Participants pause for a group photo during the Asia-Europe Meeting.

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center participated in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) High-Level Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management: Innovation and Technology for Resilience-Based Sustainable Development, which brought together 120 experts from 22 countries of Asia and Europe.

The Asia-Europe Meeting or ASEM, the most influential wide-ranging partnership between Asia and Europe, took place 14–15 September in Da Nang, Vietnam.

Mr. Hoang Van Thang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, and Mr. Peter Petrovic, opened the conference on behalf of the Slovak Presidency of the European Union.

Funded by the Norwegian Government, ADPC contributed to the success of the ASEM- High Level Conference by facilitating experts from Southeast Asia to participate and share their experiences of using innovation and technology for disaster risk reduction and resilience-based sustainable development.

While presenting, Ms. Anggraini Dewi, Senior GIS/Remote Sensing Specialist at ADPC shared with participant how ADPC is using historical multi-temporal satellite imagery for simplified flood hazard assessment in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She briefed participants that ADPC offers simple solutions to complex problem of natural hazards by using National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) publically available satellite-based data.

Sharing her experience about the conference, Ms. Dewi, said that it was a great opportunity to exchange ideas with researchers, practitioners and experts from ASEM member countries.

“We discussed ways to strengthen collaboration between Europe and Asia on science and technology for effective decision making in disaster risk reduction as well as innovative tools and financing mechanism for resilience-based sustainable development,” Ms. Dewi said and added: “Access to technology and innovations is essential to reducing disaster risk, but majority of the developing countries don’t have enough resources to acquire or maintain technologies that can help in saving lives and properties.”

Ms. Anggraini Dewi, Senior GIS/Remote Sensing Specialist of ADPC represented as one of the panelists discussing Innovative Approaches to Investment and Technology: Experience Sharing and Best Practice.

Several recommendations were made to enhance the cooperation between ASEM partners in the application and utilization of innovative technology to reduce disasters risk. They also discussed how the member countries can better support the goals of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate agreement.